Summer

 

Recent Submissions

  • Nutritious Food for All: Lack of Access to Healthy Food Before and During the Pandemic
    Sholola, Toni; Barnes, Robyn (2021-08-23)
    Financial issues in America have often caused an increase in unhealthy eating. Low income areas are often filled with cheap high calorie sugar foods. Since the global pandemic unemployment has gone up and more people have been struggling making money to live. Places like the Salem Food Pantry were created to help people with finance problems have access to healthy food. I used data of the amount of people who eat at the Salem pantry before COVID verses after COVID to compare numbers. It was noticed that since COVID many more people have been coming to the Salem Pantry. One of the head workers of the pantry named Mike has said many customers that get food at the pantry experienced financial issues because of unemployment.

  • Learning About Hospice: Honoring Veterans’ Lives With Compassion and Comradery
    Diaz, Chester; Sweeney, Michele (2021-08-23)
    Hospice care is vital to patients, their caregivers, and loved ones by providing care, comfort, and companionship when facing chronic and/or life limiting disease or illness of a loved one. The impact of these services is vital to quality of end-of-life for the impacted individual and for those who support and love them. A veteran and senior student intern at Salem State University (MA) was charged with the goal of improving pinning ceremonies for veterans at Beacon Hospice. Developments included implementation of Veteran Acknowledgement Cards, bedside honor kits for rapidly declining veterans, and updating literature. Internship objectives were completed despite setbacks related to COVID-19 and remote learning.

  • Growth of a Non-Profit: A Social Media Case Study: Massachusetts School Based Health Alliance
    Seastrand, Stephanie; Everitt, Amy (2021-08-23)
    Social media is a powerful tool for non-profit organizations to build their online presence. It allows organizations to share their message on a global and local level. This project focuses on how a non-profit organization like the Massachusetts School Based Health Alliance, can grow their social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. By doing this, children and their families can get an inside glimpse of public health campaigns and the benefits of school-based health centers in their communities.

  • eHana Database: Classifying Client File Types Manual (Digital/Hardcopy): To Ensure Proper Client File Documentation and the Effectiveness of File Types
    Rosario Morel, Maria; Batten, Julie (2021-08-23)
    Cloud-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems are used to store patient health files in an external (cloud) server rather than an internal server located at a medical facility or practice. Bridgewell uses an EHR system called eHana that helps faculty/staff/providers better manage care for clients and provide quality care by providing accurate, up-to-date, complete information about patients with diagnosis and treatment. A manual was elaborated to classify client’s file types to create an easier way to find clients documents, provide accurate documentation, and manage quality of care. A survey was created to gage the efficacy of using eHana at Bridgewell.

  • Responsibilities of Human Resources in a Community Health Center: Recruiting Ethically Diverse Employees
    Pacheco, Yelipsa; Sweeney, Michele (2021-08-23)
    It is important for a community health center to provide quality services to underserved populations such as the low income, uninsured, non-English speakers, and families living at the federal poverty level. Recruiting healthcare employees who are from similar backgrounds and speak the same language as their patients improves quality of care. The goal for this senior-level internship was to market different healthcare positions at a local community health center and attract potential candidates from different ethnic backgrounds. In the recruitment process, data was collected on health center employees and surrounding community demographics which led to the creation of flyers in both English and Spanish. The flyer was distributed to local Hispanic and black churches as well as targeted geographical areas where different ethnic populations exist.

  • Locally Grown Food for Wellspring Residents
    Coffey, Rose; Batten, Julie (2021-08-23)
    Evidence shows that spending time outdoors can be beneficial to many aspects of health. It is also known that low-income families and individuals have less access to fresh, nutritional food. These two facts in conjunction provide compelling reasons for the use of community gardens and food education in homeless shelters. Wellspring House, Inc, has incorporated locally grown food in its shelters since its founding. This project focused on documenting and scheduling the work that is done in the gardens at Wellspring in order to make the gardens more efficient, effective, and beneficial to both residents/guests and staff. In addition, fresh vegetables from the garden were used to make goods for gift baskets that were gifted to residents and staff during the 2021 season.

  • Massage Therapy and Chronic Pain: Assessing Client Satisfaction
    Brooks, Rachael; Everitt, Amy (2021-08-23)
    Chronic pain is often overlooked by our society, the health care system, and by many people until it happens to them. Chronic pain affects physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Western medicine has improved with treating chronic pain, however, considering the person as a whole and how it affects every aspect of their lives needs to be a priority. Nontraditional medicine practices may include massage therapy, acupuncture, and chiropractic. Massage therapy helps many people cope with chronic pain and can reduce pain days per month. When mixing both western and nontraditional medicine together many who struggle with chronic pain have less pain days per month and an improved quality of life.

  • Physical Activity and Its Importance for Brain Injury Survivors
    Anderson, Sarah; Batten, Julie (2021-08-23)
    Brain injuries are a disruption to the brain caused by a bump, blow, jolt, or penetrating injury to the head. Such injuries can have many complications that affect the overall quality of life for survivors. Since the brain plays such an important role in not only the function of the body, but also in everyday life, it is important that individuals have an outlet to be able to gain more independence. To help survivors of brain injuries, Supportive Living Inc. runs neuro-fit exercise programs that allow individuals to exercise with assistance from interns. The main focus of this poster is to understand how physical activity can improve the overall quality of life for survivors whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally.

  • Reducing Overdose Risk Among Patients After Rehab: Improving Patient Participation in Prevention Groups
    Williams, Jasmine; DeLeon, Patrice (2021-08-23)
    The United States is currently facing an epidemic of opioid overdoses. Roughly 841,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose. Recovery Centers of America [RCA] in Danvers, Massachusetts is one of thousands of recovery centers throughout the United States. RCA’s mission is to help save 1 million lives from the disease of addiction using evidence-based practices and clinical expertise to deliver quality patient care tailored to individual patients’ needs. (RCA 2021). The purpose of this senior-level internship was to discover ways to engage patients participating in RCA’s overdose prevention group. To encourage engagement, patients were asked to compete a questionnaire that assessed what they wanted from the prevention group and implement it. Patients were also provided resources for Narcan administration training.

  • Organizational Strategies for PPE Supplies: Quality Assurance and Safety Protocol for End of Life Care
    Joseph, Sarah; DeLeon, Patrice (2021-08-23)
    At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult for healthcare facilities to locate sites that could provide the correct amounts of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The purpose of this senior-level internship was to ensure Good Shepherd Hospice Care had an adequate amount of PPE supplies for their employees and patients. As a part of my project, I worked to guarantee the PPE supply room was organized and that staff could locate their materials promptly. I also maintained proper documentation in Microsoft Excel to calculate the difference of the supplies used during the two-week time frame. I also gained valuable insight into the coronavirus impact on hospice and palliative care.

  • Social Media Effects on LGBT Youth: Learning How to Navigate Social Media Productively and Effectively
    Anderson, Kalyn; DeLeon, Patrice (2021-08-23)
    Social media is everywhere and no matter what, we will hear about it every day. Whether we see it or not, adolescent use of social media can be very triggering or uncomfortable for young minds. Adolescents use social media differently other than watching the news or school, which can lead to dark places on the internet. This senior-level internship experience has brought attention to the dark sides of social media that children can experience, especially those a part of the LGBTQ community. The CREW program encourages adolescents to use social media in ways that promote happiness and positivity instead of causing stress. CREW also offers life skills that work for each individual and allows them to express themselves.

  • COVID-19 and Hospice Care: Safety Protocols and Policies for End of Life Care
    Jean-Francois, Stephania; DeLeon, Patrice (2021-08-23)
    COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the health of individuals and the overall healthcare industry. It has also had a tremendous impact on individuals living in healthcare facilities including palliative and hospice care. The purpose of this senior level internship was to collect and distribute updated information on COVID-19 policies and safety protocols among families and employees in multiple hospice care facilities. The updated policies and safety protocols were applied to these facilities and major precautions were taken. Which helped them in resuming programs while requiring patients to wear masks and gather in groups of 15 or fewer.

  • Quality Assurance: Increasing Responses for Satisfaction Surveys
    Abdalla, Tamam; Batten, Julie (2021-08-23)
    Quality Assurance is a key factor in the maintenance of a desired level of quality service or product. This project involves collecting data from stakeholders and analyzing the results to determine the level of satisfaction. Satisfaction Surveys are used to retain the data.This study consists of gathering the data through online-Survey Monkey, physical surveys and collected data from stakeholders. The data is then entered onto graphs to compare results and possible outcomes from 2018-2020. Surveys are offered in different languages and assistance is also offered for the disabled. In order to increase survey responses, I suggested that Bridgewell provides a complimentary gift to those individuals that complete the surveys to help increase the number of respondents. The significance of this study was to create more feedback in order to ensure the highest number of client satisfaction rates.